Sickness absence reporting and record-keeping arrangements

Sickness absence reporting and record-keeping arrangements - Too Many Sick Days
Unaccounted For

Are you recording and monitoring sickness absence in your business?

At the end of each year, are you able to review how much time off has been taken during the year and what are the main types of sickness absence?

If not, a workforce management system could really benefit your business to put you back in control of your data and allow you to make strategic business decisions. 

It will also allow you to gain a deeper understanding of employee absence and improve productivity.

Why do you need to monitor and record sickness absence?

Recording sickness absence can help with the management of employees who are absent from work to ensure an accurate payment of both contractual and statutory sick pay. It is important to note that sickness absence can be because of illness, injury, an accident at home or as a result of a work-related injury. By tracking this data, you can make key business decisions and put in place any allowances and support for staff.

Monitoring of sickness absence records will facilitate an early identification of any potential problems.

For example:

• Is there a high number of staff taking Mondays or Fridays off?
• Is there more sickness absence taken during the summer months / Christmas /
  Sporting events?
• Is the reason for absence work-related – e.g., stress, mental health?
• Do you need to add additional support when spotting trends?
• Are there certain staff members taking the most time off?
• What is the average length of time off taken.
• Understanding the return-to-work requirements for staff returning from illness.

But what if there are too many sick days unaccounted for?

Without using workforce management software to track and monitor absence, business owners run the risk of:

• Making errors on payroll – paying staff incorrect amounts
• Making errors where sick pay is concerned
• Not understanding the reasons for staff absence so cannot plan for changes across the business
• Not being able to handle disciplinaries correctly for staff taking lots of time off
• Treating staff unfairly if absence relates to a disability or long-term conditions

How can a Time & Attendance Solution Help?

It’s all in the data…
Time and attendance solutions can help to join up all your workforce management data in one place helping you to make informed business decisions. A workforce management system can track and monitor sickness absence ensuring payroll is accurate and your staff receive the correct amount of pay or sick pay.

Another benefit is that if a tracking system is used by everyone it ensures all staff are
treated fairly and those that are taking a lot of time off can be supported properly. This can help to reduce the amount of time people take in the long run. As mentioned above, understanding the reasons for sick leave is just as important as the amount of leave taken, but to get this information, you need to be tracking everything.

By not tracking data effectively, it can have a real effect on the businesses bottom line and could even lead to employment tribunal claims if absence is not handled the same for everyone within the business.

At Data Time Systems, we have been working alongside our clients since 1984 to ensure they have the right system in place to suit the needs of the business. All our solutions are designed to flex and adapt as businesses change. We provide the tools to give back the power to business owners to make informed business decisions and it’s all data driven.

If you are interested in finding out more then please contact the team…